BNY Mellon (BNY) earned $625 million in the third quarter, or $0.51 per common share, after losing $2.4 billion a year ago. Third quarter earnings did drop 6.4% from the previous quarter, but BNY Mellon, which manages assets for clients, reported a record level of those assets under management at $1.14 trillion. It’s an increase of 18% from a year ago and a record high for the company. The increase in assets came primarily from the acquisition of Insight Investment Management, higher market values and new business. While assets under management increased to new heights, the new business brought in more fees, increasing 8% from a year ago to $716 million. BNY Mellon set aside $22 million in provisions for credit losses on its own assets, down 85% from $147 million a year ago. The decrease in the provision comes from a 26% decline in assets it considers troubled. Acquisitions, like the one of Insight, reduced BNY Mellon’s Tier 1 common ratio to 10.7%. “The acquisitions, combined with the underlying resilience of our business model, helped to offset weakness in the capital markets,” BNY Mellon CEO Robert Kelly said. “The strength of our balance sheet and meaningful capital generation position us well to meet the proposed new capital standards.” Write to Jon Prior.